Katie's Code
by KnotaC
Summary: AU where Jacob never imprints on Renesmee. Jacob x Other Character Katie has a code that she lives by to keep herself out of trouble, and it was working just fine for her until she met Jacob Black, who still isn't over his first love. Can she help him get over Bella? Even when being with him would go against one of her most important rules: don't fall for unavailable guys.
1. Expect the Unexpected

My name is Katherine Abner, but everyone calls me Katie. Up until yesterday I lived in Beverly Hills with my mom and her scumbag husband, Calvin. I always knew that Calvin was bad news, but my mom never listens to me anyway. As I was saying, a couple of months ago, my mom and I walked in on Calvin and the housekeeper going at it on our couch. Needless to say there was a lot of arguing and tears until my mom finally filed for divorce and moved out. Calvin was a big shot attorney, which is why we could afford to live in his huge Beverly Hills mansion. My mom, however, worked at a bank before she married Calvin and now the divorce has rendered us almost completely broke. Since my mom had no job and no money, she decided it would be best to move in with Grandma Betty in La Push. If you don't know where that is, all you need to know is that its a indian reservation that borders Nobody Cares, Washington.  
When I was little, my mom and I visited Grandma Betty at least twice a year, but we haven't been back since I was eight. When we got into town on Sunday, Grandma Betty was waiting for us on her front porch where she was shielded from the rain. I got out of the car with my bag slung over my shoulder and ran onto the porch.

"Grandma Betty!" I dropped my bag on the porch and flung my arms around her. What can I say? I was excited to see the coolest grandmother ever. My mom got out of the car seconds after I did, but she looked more disgusted than excited. She never figured out that living with Calvin in Beverly Hills sucked.

Grandma Betty and I ignored my mom's bad attitude as we set up my bedroom in the small house. It had three bedrooms and two bathrooms. My bedroom is the only one on the first floor. Before Grandpa Jon died, it was his study. Now it has a twin sized bed with green bedding and a small dresser. It didn't take long to unpack, all I had were my clothes, the only two books I actually like to read, my laptop, and the iPod nano I got for my last birthday.

"Would you like me to shut the door on my way out?" Grandma Betty asked as I flopped down on my bed.

"Would you mind hanging out with me for a while? I haven't seen you in forever." I know its weird to be a seventeen year old that still likes to spend time with her grandmother, but she's the coolest sixty-eight year old I've ever met. When her hair started turning gray, she didn't wait even a minute before she dyed it black. She didn't have many wrinkles either and gave new meaning to the phrase "you're as young as you feel".

"I'd love to. What's on your mind?"

"I have to go to the school here. Look at me, I'll stick out like a sore thumb." I am a quarter Native American, but my dad was super pale and it reflected on me. I'm tan, but not tan enough to be Native American. My hair is dark, but not dark enough to be called black, not to mention the insane curls that my dad gave me. Going to school in La Push can only make me feel like more of an outsider than I already am.

"No you won't."

"If I don't stick out for my lack of skin pigmentation then it will be because of my personality. There's a reason why I didn't have any friends at my old school."

"Trust me, Katie. Everything will be fine." Grandma Betty was always able to make me feel better, even when I'm convinced that nothing good will ever happen in my life. I gave Grandma Betty another hug as a loud crash sounded from somewhere in the house followed by a loud, "god dammit!" from my mother.

"I'm going to go help your mother before she destroys something important." Grandma Betty sighed theatrically. I laughed and stretched out on my bed. That first day flew by much quicker than I wanted it to. My mom finished setting up her stuff before dinner and my grandma made her famous chicken pot pie. We ate and watched TV for the rest of the evening. Before I knew it, my alarm clock was demanding that I wake up for school. I've never been a morning person, so it didn't come as a surprise that my mom and Grandma Betty steered clear of me until I took a shower and had my morning bowl of Cap'n Crunch.  
My mom dropped me off in front of the school and I was left to find the office by myself. There was a middle aged woman sitting at the front desk typing away at something. I cleared my throat to get her attention.

"Can I help you with something?" She asked politely.

"I'm a new student here. My name is Katherine Abner." She typed a few letters into her computer and printed something off before handing it to me. It was my schedule and a map of the school. She explained how the rooms were numbered and how to get to my locker from the office. She also wrote down the name and locker number of someone who would be happy to show me around. I thanked the secretary and headed off in the direction of my locker.  
Students crowded in the hallways and I tried not to get noticed by the resident mean girls or bad boys. I didn't have any books to put in my locker yet, so I just leaned against it and stared at my map until the bell rang. I turned down the hallway just to ran smack into some girl. She was prettier than I am, so she was probably one of the mean girls.

"Sorry. I haven't had the chance to get the traffic patterns of this hallway down. At my old school the path I was taking would be completely clear, but I was obviously wrong. I'll stop babbling and get out of your way now." Most of my words came out in one breath and the girl gave me a weird look.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"Katie."

"I'm Kim. You're funny. You should sit with me at lunch." I've never had a pretty girl be so nice to me.

"Sure, okay." Kim smiled and started walking to her class while I headed to mine. The classes here were much the same as the ones I was taking in California. I had Algebra II first followed by Chemistry, US History, and English. I had lunch somewhere in between. There weren't as many people going to this school, so I hoped it would be easy to find Kim.

The classes were pretty easy and I was more than happy to go to lunch after US History was over. My old school's cafeteria could fit three of this school's cafeterias inside of it, but the cliques here looked a lot less threatening. The jocks' table was right next to the skaters' and they were socializing like decent human beings. The same went for the dance team and theatre club. I found Kim sitting at a table full of boys that had the demeanor of bad boys, but the muscles of athletes.

I can't deny that I was a little scared to approach Kim and her friends, so I stood off to the side until I could build up my nerve. Kim noticed me and gave me a friendly wave. That was enough of an invitation for me as I took a seat between her and one of the muscular boys that could've been brothers.

"Who's the new chick?" One of the boys asked. There was really only one way I could describe him: perpetually angry.

"This is my new friend Katie." She leaned over towards me and stage whispered, "You'll have to excuse Paul, he has a pole permanently lodged up his ass." I tried to hold back the laugh that was trying to escape. Paul was already shaking with anger and I didn't want to make it any worse.

"Calm down. She's only teasing." Said the boy on Kim's other side.

"Katie, this is my boyfriend Jared, you already know Paul, that's Embry, Quil, and Seth." Kim pointed each of the boys out as she went around the table.

"Nice to meet you."

"Has anyone heard from Jake lately?" Embry asked after a couple minutes of silence. There was a thud and Embry let out a grunt of pain. I assumed someone kicked him under the table.

"What? You know everyone is thinking it!" He complained.

"Who's Jake?" I asked.

"He's still hung up on Bella, where do you think he is?" Paul interjected.

"Who's Jake?" I tried again.

"She's on her honeymoon, Jake can't follow her there." Seth pointed out. I was starting to get frustrated. I don't want to pry, but when everyone you're sitting with is talking about someone, its nice to be kept in the loop.

"Give him a break, he just had his heart broken." Kim told them.

"Will someone please tell me who Jake is!" I finally rest of the table went silent and fixed their eyes on a spot above my right shoulder.

"That would be me." A voice came from behind me. I stiffened and turned around slowly. Why is it every time I act like a crazy person, there's always an extremely hot guy standing right behind me?

"I'm Katie, I'm new and I usually don't borderline stalk people through their friends. I also don't raise my voice like that either, but I like to be kept in the loop when I'm talking to people, which doesn't happen very often anyway. Today is kind of an off day for me-and you don't really care, so I'll shut up now." I said trying to keep from blushing. Kim laughed at me while Jake just stared at me with a weird look on his face that I can't describe.

"Oh my god! Jake just-ow! Stop kicking me!" Embry shouted.

"I think your friends want you to shut up." I told him.

"Doesn't mean they can kick me." He grumbled.

"Its okay, Embry. I would never kick you."

"At least Katie cares about me. You all have officially been replaced." Embry hugged me and stuck his tongue out at the rest of our table.

"I'm flattered."

"Flattered enough to go on a date with me?" He asked. Beside me, Jake let out some kind of animalistic growl.

"Sorry. I'm not into the whole dating scene."

"You wound me. I thought you loved me." Embry put a hand to his heart as if someone had actually stabbed him there.

"Rule number five: expect the unexpected."


	2. Always Wear a Hat on Rainy Days

When I got back to Grandma Betty's after school, my mom actually seemed to be in a good mood. She was flipping through one of the tabloid magazines she liked to read and humming a song that I didn't know the name of.

"Hey mom."

"How was your first day?" she asked, not looking up from her magazine.

"You'll never believe it. I actually made friends! There's Kim whose dating Jared, Quil who refuses to date anybody, Embry who wants to date every female with a pulse, Paul who's a total asshole, Seth is the little brother I never had, and Jake who mostly just watched me babble." I blushed just thinking about Jake.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you had a crush on that Jake."

"I barely talked to him and even if I did like him, which I don't, it wouldn't matter anyway. According to all his friends, he's still in love with some girl." Kim gave me a brief run down of what happened during the last year or so when we were in English class. My competition was Bella Cullen. When she first moved here she started dating Edward Cullen and he broke up with her a few months later. In short she had some kind of break down and Jake was there to pick up the pieces. He fell in love with Bella and she didn't feel the same. She ended up marrying her ex-boyfriend when she was eighteen and Jake was real torn up about it. Apparently, she was his ideal. How could I even hope to compete with that? I'm a lot of things, but I will never be Bella Cullen.

My mom tried giving me advice, but I couldn't take her seriously because of all her failed relationships. I spent the rest of my evening doing homework and watching the new episode of The Vampire Diaries. Morning came as quickly as it did the day before and I was not happy to go to school at all. At least I would be able to see my new friends.

"Morning!" Kim said a little too excitedly for this hour of the morning.

"You're a morning person, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Do you know how annoying that is?" I asked.

"Yes and I don't care. By the way, hats aren't allowed in school." She said eying the beanie I'd shoved over my hair when I saw the rain outside. The problem with curly hair is it gets beyond frizzy when the humidity is high.

"Rule number sixteen: always wear a hat on rainy days. If I take this hat off I will look like a troll doll."

"Bad hair day?"

"If this rain is an every day occurrence, then I'll be having a bad hair year."

"Just take off the hat, I'm sure you'll look fine." she tried to reassure me.

"No chance in hell." I told her as I pulled my hat farther down so it was resting over my eyebrows.

"Harsh."

"I'm not a morning person." That ended that conversation and we both headed off to our classes. When I got to Algebra II, the seat I took yesterday was taken by none other than Jacob Black. It must've been his seat first, but I couldn't help but feel a little cheated. I liked that seat. It wasn't in the front or the back, no one tall was in front of me, and I had a perfect view of the board. I built up my nerve and walked straight up to Jake.

"Hey Jake. I was wondering if you would be willing to give me that seat?" I asked with my best puppy dog face.

"Why do you want it?" I didn't care that he was looking at me with a mixture of confusion and amusement as long as I got that seat.

"That may just be the best seat in the school. No one too tall sits in front of me and the lights don't glare off the board from here. Not to mention that there is no gum under it." I explained.

"You're crazy, did you know that?" He asked with the most gorgeous smile I've ever seen.

"Yes and I've come to terms with it." he chuckled and motioned for me to take his spot. I let out a triumphant "yes" and settled into the chair.

"Thank you and I'll love you forever." if I weren't so happy, I might've been embarrassed. Unless my eyes deceived me, Jacob blushed to his ears. I didn't pay attention for most of the class, I was too busy playing with the phone my dad sent me last week. The bell rang and Jacob caught me by the hand.  
"What kind of phone is that?" He asked.

"The kind that doesn't come out for another six weeks."

"The how did you get it."

"My dad helped design it or something and he managed get one to me early. Parental guilt can be highly profitable." I shrugged.

"So, you're a spoiled daddy's girl?" He sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than insult me, but I was still offended.

"Not exactly. He lives and breathes work and thinks that if he sends me enough stuff, I won't notice that he never calls me. He sent me this to make up for missing my open mic night. They gave me a little trophy and everything."

"You sing?"

"Not exactly. My lyrics are way better than my voice, so I usually end up speaking the words to a tune."

"I'd love to hear you sing sometime." it was my turn to blush now. Audiences of one are not my strong suit. With bigger audiences you can always comfort yourself by saying that you'll never see them again. One person can instantly judge you to your face.

"No. No...I can't. I have like...reverse stage fright. Audiences of less than ten people quite frankly terrify me, so no. I'll tell you the next time I play at an open mic or something, though." With that I removed myself from his grip and ran down the hallway. Within the first two days at a new school, I've managed to embarrass myself a total of three times. I get the feeling this will be one hell of a year.


	3. Don't Date Unavailable Guys

**Jacob's POV**

It was bad enough that I had to deal with Paul at school on a daily basis, but now he is once again invading my house. Is it so much for me to ask that I come home after a long day at school and watch a good hour and a half of mind-numbing television on my crappy TV set?

"Don't you and Rachel ever leave the house?" I growled as I watched them snuggle on the couch in that disgusting way that all mates do.

"I don't have a job, I don't make money, and money is essential for dates. You have a mate, why don't you go bother her?" Luckily for my house, my sister's presence was keeping Paul calm.

"You didn't tell me you imprinted!" Rachel shouted excitedly, which is one of the reasons why I didn't tell her.

"Doesn't matter. I still love Bella." When I first laid eyes on Katie, gravity stopped holding me down and it was only her, but despite the imprint, I still felt the same way about Bella as I always have. Katie was pretty, I guess. Even with her springy curls shoved up inside her hat, she still managed to look good. But Bella had unparalleled beauty and she didn't even know it. In a way her attitude about it adds to that beauty. Not to mention that Bella and I just make sense. With me she could stay alive and live a full and happy life without any interference from that family of filthy bloodsuckers. All I can do is hope that she comes to her senses before she becomes one of those monsters.

"Whatever." Paul waved me off, which only made me more pissed.

"I'm going for a run." I didn't wait for a reply as I stripped down and shifted. I'd been hoping that I would be alone, but apparently Seth had the same idea.  
_That's really messed up._ He said once all my private thoughts were broadcasted to him.

_I don't really feel like talking._

_I'm just saying, you'd feel a lot better if you didn't fight it. Besides, Katie is really cool._ He tried to convince me.

_Hey, Seth?_

_Yeah?_

_Shut up._

_Shutting._

Even though I couldn't get rid of Seth's internal monologue, I was able to push it to the back of my mind. I was running down by the meadow where I found Bella being attacked by that leach with the dreads when I caught the scent. It was that same sickly sweet smell that all vampires had, but this one was the freshest scent I'd ever come across. The leech was here just seconds ago.

_Seth, how far away are you?_ I asked.

_Right behind you._ It was only a few seconds before Seth padded up behind me.

_Should we wait for the others?_

_If we do, we might miss it._ I outranked him, so he had no choice but to follow the bloodsucker's scent with me. When we caught up with the bloodsucker a few minutes later, she was stalking near a small brick house, probably waiting for her next kill.

_Dude, we're at Katie's house._ Seth thought. I tried to keep my focus on the blonde vamp that was crouched in the bushes, but I couldn't resist sneaking a peak. Katie was sitting on the porch with a pair of green headphones resting over her ears as she bent over her book and made some kind of notes. If I listened very carefully I bet I would be able to hear the song she's playing. I quickly turned my attention back to the vamp that was planning on making a meal out of my mate. Seth and I stalked toward the vamp, she must've been new and we were able to take her down with ease. Now it was just a matter of burning the pieces. When the job was done, I shifted back to my human form and threw on my shorts. Katie was still sitting on the porch, blissfully unaware that she'd almost become someone's dinner. She continued bobbing her head to her music and writing an occasional sentence in her book. Bella liked to read too.

**Katie's POV**

As I finished annotating my book, I got the district feeling I was being watched. It didn't help that I'd watched a crime show marathon when I got home from school. I was primed for some guy to come running out of the forest, ready to stab me to death. I pulled the headphones off my head and listened. No branches broke, no leaves crunched under someone's boots. I wasn't going to be one of the stupid girls in the horror movies who leave their house and walk into the dark forest completely unarmed. Instead, I collected my stuff and headed back into the house where my mom and Grandma Betty were making Mexican food for dinner. I took one breath and started coughing thanks to the peppers that were poisoning the air.

"I think you overdid the peppers." I coughed.

"What's life without a little spice?" Grandma Betty countered. I rolled my eyes and left the room to put my homework away. I knew from experience that if I put it on my desk for a second, it would stay there for an entire week. No homework means I'll get bad grades. If I get bad grades then I won't get into college and I'll be stuck working at various retail stores like my mom.

Dinner was going great until my mom opened her big mouth and started talking.

"So, did you talk to that boy today?" She asked. If Grandma Betty found out that I liked a boy she would do something completely embarrassing like invite him and his family over for dinner so we would have time alone together.

"Who? Embry? Yeah I did. He tried to put the moves on me and I let him down easy. This salsa is excellent by the way."

"No." My mom shot me a look that clearly told me playing dumb would not work.

"Fine. I talked to Jake for like a minute in a half. He asked me about dad and I babbled. Now about this salsa-"

"Quit trying to change the subject, Katherine. If you like that boy, you should ask him out."

"There's one problem with that, it breaks rule number seven."

"I can't believe you're still using that stupid code. Put on your big girl panties and go get what you want." Said Grandma Betty.

"Its not stupid, it keeps me from being socially impaired, embarrassed on a daily basis, and/or do stupid things. I can't date a guy who is in love with another girl. Its problematic!" I should stop telling my family when I have a crush, they never shut up about it. Maybe Kim can be my new confidant, because I have a terrible feeling that my mom and grandma are going to start meddling in my nonexistent love life. I tried to eat quickly and flee from the room before anyone else could say anything. I was almost to the safety of my bedroom when my grandma called, "Get some sleep. Tomorrow we're going to go get you that boy!"  
Kill me now.


	4. Don't Get Obsessive

On Saturday, I woke up at six in the morning to escape Operation Get Katie a Boyfriend. I didn't have a car, so I ended up walking down to First Beach. I left a note so my mom wouldn't freak out and call the cops or think I've been kidnapped. I took my iPod and listened to the playlist named Songs No One Needs to Know I Listen To, which consists of One Direction, the Jonas Brothers, High School Musical 3 Soundtrack, and one Justin Bieber song.

I found a nice spot to sit where I could watch the waves. I would go for a swim, but it was the beginning of October and the water would be freezing cold. If I weren't so scared to go home, I would leave the beach. There were no surfers to watch or people to socialize with. That is until a man appeared a few feet down the beach. He had red hair and a perfectly symmetrical face. If he weren't so sickeningly perfect I might have found him attractive. Another drawback was how pale he was, almost as if all the pigment had seeped out of his skin. His eyes almost seemed to be a dark shade of red, but that's not possible. The light must be reflecting weird, or my eyes are playing tricks on me. Yeah that's it, just my eyes playing tricks. I reassured myself. I hid my face under the hood of my jacket and tried to blend in with the scenery. I was listening to Justin Bieber when an icy finger tapped my shoulder. I looked up into the clearly crimson eyes of the man. Okay, my eyes definitely aren't playing tricks on me now, they must be color contacts.

"Can I help you?" I asked while that little voice, also known as my common sense, screamed "Stranger danger!" at me.

"My name is Vince and may I just say you look absolutely delicious this morning?" I gulped. I don't know who this guy is, but I don't have a good feeling about him at all. And he said I looked delicious. Has anyone ever thought saying that wasn't creepy?

"Thanks. I'm flattered, really I am, but I have to go. My mother is waiting for me." I figured it wouldn't hurt to suggest that I have someone who would quickly notice I'm gone.

"So soon? I haven't even had breakfast yet." he pouted. I got up from my spot and started power walking away. He kept pace with me easily.

"There's a diner about fifteen minutes down the road, I'm sure you'll find something to eat there." I told him as I quickened my pace to a jog.

"Actually, you will fit into my diet quite nicely." he purred, which was also creepy. Now was as good a time as any to scream. No one was around to hear me, but I had to at least try. I didn't pause before I let out the loudest, bloodcurdling screech I could manage. It only lasted a second before his hand clamped over my mouth, muffling my scream and cutting off part of my air supply. I tried to bite down on his hand, but it was like trying to bite through solid stone. I was probably hurting myself more than I was hurting him. I accepted the fact that this weird dude was going to kill me or possibly eat me, but the idea of going down without at least trying to fight repulses me. I started by trying to remove the hand from over my mouth. I clawed at his forearms which only broke my nails. Then I moved on to kicking his shins and I even aimed a few kicks at his crotch, but he didn't even wince.

"Oh, you want to play." I really wish he would stop talking like that. I can't decide if its creepy or just plain weird. He removed his hand from over my mouth and picked me up like I weighed nothing. Before I could even open my mouth to scream, I was airborne. I landed a good thirty feet away where my calves scraped on the rocks. It took me half a second to get to my feet and start running. I was on the track team for half a season until I sprained my ankle, I hope I still have it. I almost made it to the highway when a hand grabbed my ankle, forcing me to tumble forward.

I'd had a head start and he still caught up to me in next to no time. Is this guy bionic or something? He pulled me closer and took a deep breath. I closed my eyes and waited for death. I was in no way okay with this, but when your attacker is bionic, you don't have much choice but to hope for a quick and painless death. I'd fought the best I could and I'm going to die anyway. It sucks, but its true. I heard a loud growl and suddenly, the guy dropped me. I fell to the ground with a thud and opened my eyes. The man was surrounded by wolves the size of bears. The man leaped into the air and ran towards the forest. I must've hit my head at some point, because the man seemed to be a blur when he moved. The wolves let out a few more snarls before chasing after him.

There was one reddish wolf that stayed behind and just stared at me. So far this hadn't been a great day for me and I didn't want to make it even worse by getting into it with a predator. All I knew was that you never show a predator your back. I got to my feet and slowly backed onto the highway. When I got there, I figured it was safe for me to turn around and start walking down the road. The wolf didn't follow so I picked up my pace and ran back home. Mom and Grandma Betty were barely out of bed when I burst through the door and made a beeline to the downstairs bathroom.

I tore off my jacket and sweatpants and stared at the scrapes. They didn't look as bad as they felt, the were pretty small thanks to the fabric of my clothing. The side of my right hand was bleeding and I was covered in dirt. I cleaned the scrapes and put band aids over the parts that were bleeding before redressing and locking myself in my bedroom. Its safe to say that I was freaking out a little bit. First, a man who is strong enough to throw me around like a rag doll tries to kill me. Then wolves that were at least the size of bears try to kill the man who tried to kill me. And finally, the aforementioned wolves paid no attention to me, which was just plain weird. I was a sitting duck compared to that other guy.

A couple of hours later there was a knock on my door. I told whoever it was to go away. Grandma Betty let herself in anyway and told me to dress in something nice.

"Grandma, as much as I love you meddling in my life, I'm a little traumatized right now. I'd really rather just stay here for the rest of the day if you don't mind." I breathed a sigh of relief when Grandma Betty relented and said she'd have plenty of time to meddle next week. Who knows, if I play my cards right I might be able to milk this until I graduate.

Monday came way too soon. I'd stayed in bed most of the weekend, but I was still tired. The small scrapes on my hands and ankles were not bleeding anymore, but they were red and scabbed over.

When I got to school, Kim wasn't waiting by my locker like she had been every other day since I met her. After a minute of looking, I saw that she was talking to Jared and the other boys from our lunch table with a serious look on her face. I considered walking over there, but the bell rang, so I just went to class. The weirdness continued throughout the day. You know how when you pass by someone and you know they're talking about you because as soon as you're in earshot, they stop talking? That's what my entire lunch table did to me.

"I don't know, man. I've never seen someone hold out as long as she did with one of them." Seth was saying right before I sat down.

"Hey guys."

"Hey. What happened?" Kim asked, pointing to the scabs on my hand.

"Oh, that. Clumsy moment. With me they are few and far between, but when they happen I am almost always badly injured. I consider myself lucky that all I got were a few scrapes. My last clumsy moment resulted in a fractured ankle." I lied. After all, I couldn't tell them that a crazy, bionic dude tried to kill me on Saturday.

"Wow." It was a bit quiet after that. Usually I would start babbling to fill the silence, but if I did I might mention the bionic man, so I just shoved pizza in my mouth so I wouldn't be able to say anything even if I wanted to.

"Slow down, you're going to choke." Embry warned. I rolled my eyes and continued shoving food into my mouth.

"That's disgusting. What, were you raised by wolves or something?" Jacob asked, looking amused with himself.

"No. I used to spend summers with my dad and then when my mom married Calvin, I had to stay three weeks at his son's apartment. What can I say, I picked up a few mannerisms." I shrugged after swallowing all the food.

"Kim! Teach her how to eat like a girl!" Jared whined. I shot him a dirty look and flipped him off.

"I'll have you know I can eat like a girl, I was just trying to keep myself from babbling things that would cause me to be thrown into the looney bin." my hands clamped over my mouth and I tried to laugh it off. Luckily Kim came to my rescue by saying, "So are we still on for First Beach on Friday?"

"Yeah!" Embry gave an excited fist pump.

"Cliff jumping!" Quil mimicked his excitement.

"Katie, do you want to come?" asked Kim. I thought about it for a moment. I was terrified of First Beach since the bionic dude incident, but what were the odds of that happening again? After all, I would be with friends this time. Even if bionic dude wanted to try to kill me again, he couldn't be stupid enough to attack me with all the witnesses.

"Sure. What time?" we hashed out the details during lunch. We went through the day with me barely thinking about the incident on First Beach. Instead I was thinking about Jake without a shirt on. I would be willing to bet that Jake had a six pack or, if he works out religiously, an eight pack. The boys would be cliff jumping, even though it was like twenty degrees outside, while Kim and I would pretend to soak up sun and watch the guys make fools of themselves. In other words, it'll be tons of fun.

Friday couldn't come fast enough. I spent the week building my nonexistent relationship with Jacob and we were getting semi-close. We would go to class, he would say hi to me and I would say hi back. We would walk to class together and he would occasionally take my books when I was having trouble balancing them in my arms. I had to keep reminding myself not to think about him in any way other than a platonic one. After all, he is still in love with Bella Cullen, which means he is still in violation of rule number seven.

After school on Friday, I met up with Kim on the beach. The boys were at the top of a nearby cliff and would be down after they jumped. Kim and I watched as Quil tried to fight off the other guys so he wouldn't be the first one in. Eventually he lost his footing and went flying over the edge with an exhilarated scream.

"So, you have a thing for Jacob?" Kim asked when Quil hit the water.

"Why do people think I like him?" Was I really that obvious? I must be losing my edge, I'm usually a decent actress.

"Because it's written all over your face every time you look at him."

"Please tell me I'm not really that obvious."

"Ha! You admitted you like him!" She shouted triumphantly.

"Tell him and I'll have to kill you."

"My lips are sealed." Kim made a motion of locking her lips and throwing away the key. I laughed and watched the rest of the boys throw themselves over the edge. I was carrying on with Kim and having an overall good time when I noticed the weird bionic guy on the other side of the beach.

"Kim, do you think we should get out of here?" I asked as casually as I could manage, not taking my eyes off the bionic guy.

"Why? I'm enjoying this. I'd bet money that Paul is going to take someone down with him." She laughed.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Kim raised an eyebrow and I pretended that I didn't notice. Bionic guy was just standing there, his focus flickering from me to the guys on the cliff. Why wouldn't he just attack already? The suspense was killing me. When my eyes flicked back to him, he was gone.

"Hey. You okay?" Kim asked.

"I'm fine. I guess I'm a little on edge today." Understandably, I wasn't quite able to enjoy the afternoon. I was still a bit paranoid, and I couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like to throw myself over the top of that cliff like the guys were doing. I bet it would be exhilarating.

"I want to do that." I said gesturing to the cliffs.

"The guys are insane. Most of us usually go during the summer. From that lower down over there." said Kim.

"What better time than the present?" I countered.

"If you want to freeze your butt off be my guest. I'm staying here where its warm." I followed the rest of the guys up to the top of the cliff where they were getting ready to make another jump. They were in their usual cut off shorts sans shirts and shoes (I was right about Jacob, he had an amazing six pack).

If they didn't need swimsuits then neither did I. I stripped down to my underwear and stepped a few paces back from the edge of the cliff. It didn't escape my notice that all the guys were looking anywhere but at me. It wasn't a big deal. There isn't that much to look at anyway. I took a deep breath and threw myself over the edge of the cliff. I admit I may have been showing off just a bit. I was on a swim team for a month.  
The water was icy, but I quickly got used to it. I didn't resurface for a minute or two. My head broke the surface and the wind nearly numbed my entire face. Its definitely time to get out. How did the guys deal with that level of cold? When I reached the beach, Kim was clapping for me.

"How did the water feel?" She asked smugly.

"Like a nice warm bath." I retorted as I shivered. Luckily Jared had had brought down my clothes while I was still in the water and the warmth was heaven as I redressed.

"Talk about a total Bella move." Embry joked as he and Quil got out of the water.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Well, you see last year, Bella was spending a lot of time here at the res and decided to go cliff jumping all by herself practically during a hurricane. Jake barely made it to her before she drowned."

Great, another reason Bella's my competition. Damn my stupid teenage hormones.

"I don't seem to remember Bella stripping down to her underwear. You look hot by the way." Quil wagged his eyebrows at me.

"Don't even think about it. _Jake has dibs._" I wasn't sure if he really said the last part, because Embry was kind of gritting it out through his teeth. I didn't even start to think about it, because the second I did, I would start over-analyzing things and I would start to get obsessive again. And that's something nobody wants.


	5. Don't Write Love Songs, They're Awkward

Four days went by and I hadn't seen any sign of that bionic guy. I'll admit I was starting to get a bit obsessive. It just really ate at me that he wasn't showing himself. I was starting to think I had imagined the entire thing, but the scrapes on my hands were real, my mind couldn't have fabricated those. The finger shaped bruises had faded, but those were real too. I'm sure of it. I couldn't for the life of me remember his name, but I think it started with a V. So I started googling scary redhead, but nothing useful came up. Then I started researching inhuman strength. I got a lot of info about superheroes and adrenaline rushes. Its possible the bionic dude had some kind of adrenaline rush that allowed him to move at those kind of speeds and throw me around like I weighed nothing, but its not probable.  
It wasn't until I started looking up every mythical creature I could think of that I started getting some results. Vampires, specifically gave me a lot of insight to the situation. The only problem is that they don't exist. It can't attack me if it doesn't exist. I decided to broach the subject at lunch that Tuesday. I needed some reassurance that I wasn't completely insane.  
"Do you guys believe in vampires?" I asked. All the guys went quiet as if I'd just said the most taboo word known to man. It took them a moment to recover.  
"Don't tell me you don't know the tribe legends." said Jared.  
"What legends?"  
"You know the one where Quileutes are descended from wolves." Someone must have kicked him under the table judging by the way he jumped back a few inches.  
"Jesus, Paul. She's going to find out anyway!" he complained.  
"Not from us she's not." Paul growled through his teeth.  
"You guys do realize that I'm still here, right?" I interrupted their little stand-off. They pretended they didn't hear me.  
"Fine. I'll see you misfits later." I got up from my spot and threw away what was left of my lunch. Being alone didn't help my obsessive tendencies one bit and I wondered how long it would take for me to drive myself insane.  
Hours later, after school, when I finally took a break from thinking about the potential vampire, I realized that I hadn't seen Jacob at school for days. I kicked myself for not asking about him at lunch. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

**Jacob's POV**  
Katie had been distracting me lately. I didn't even know Bella was back from her honeymoon with that leech until I came home to find Charlie in my living room. I'd braced myself for the news of Bella's death, but Charlie kept talking about how she was getting better. How she didn't sound so weak over the phone anymore. I wondered if vampirism had made Bella so callous that she would give Charlie that kind of hope. I had to find out either way. Maybe I had turned a bit masochistic, but I needed to see her. I didn't shift this time, I took my bike down to the Cullen house. I didn't even have to knock on the door before Edward opened it.  
"Where is she?" I asked.  
"I can't let you in until you calm down." I'd almost forgotten his tendency to pick through my mind.  
"Let me see her." I demanded.  
"Edward let him in." Bella's voice was beautiful. It didn't crack or break like a normal person's voice would. I guess the girl I love is really gone.  
_What about Katie?_ That annoying part of my mind countered. I glared at Edward, daring him to comment on my thoughts. He didn't.  
Edward stepped aside and there she was. Her skin was pure white, her hair was shiny, she unnaturally beautiful, and her eyes were a dull red.  
"Jacob." She smiled.  
"You broke the treaty. I have to tell the pack now."  
"They saved my life." She argued.  
"They ended it."  
"I was dying anyway."  
"You had decades left."  
"I had minutes." Her words made me stop. What had she been dying of?  
"Childbirth." Edward answered my thoughts.  
"Keep out of my head."  
"Its true. I had a baby. Edward's baby." she looked so damn...happy. It made me sick. Didn't she see that any of his spawn were an abomination? A crime against nature. Now there's a little uncontrollable bloodsucker out there threatening our land.  
"Don't. She's not what you're thinking of. She can learn. She drinks animal blood like us, but she can also eat normal food. You only have to meet her to know."  
"Then let me." Bella looked a little calmer now that Edward and I had stopped our conversation. The blonde came in with a toddler that had curly hair and Bella's brown eyes.  
"Her name is Renesmee." I had to admit she was a cute kid. She looked half like Bella and half like Edward. At least no one would have to question her parentage.  
That thought made me shudder a bit.  
"Do you still want to kill me, Jacob?" Bella asked.  
"I don't know."  
"Maybe this will help." The baby placed her hand on my cheek and I started to see things. Bella's human face covered with sweat and blood, images of Edward and Rosalie, and a bloody birthing scene from the eyes of the baby. I almost gagged.  
"What the hell was that?" I asked.  
"Its like Edward's power, but reversed." I couldn't help but notice how Bella looked so damn…happy. I was miserable, how is it she could be so happy? When she felt miserable, so did I. How come it wasn't the same in reverse?  
Edward was giving me the stink-eye, which was to be expected since I was thinking about his wife. I wanted to cringe just from thinking the word. My Bella was gone, though, and I guess it would be getting about time for me to move on.  
I wonder if Katie would mind helping me with that.

**Katie's Point of View**  
The downside of having no one to talk to is you end up blurting stuff out to your grandma like I did. I probably sounded like a complete nut job raving about vampires and superhuman speed and strength. Grandma laughed at me. I wasn't surprised, but it still fazed me a little bit. Then she sat me down and told me the legends of our tribe. Specifically the stories about the cold ones. Apparently my attacker was a vampire, plain and simple. It kind of worries me how easily I accepted the stories as fact. Everyone around here knows they're just legends, I think.  
So after a delightful talk with my grandmother, I moved out to the porch with my notebook and a guitar. I've decided to try to write a love song for a change of pace. Usually my lyrics are along the lines of "Why can't you stop being a douchebag" and "Friends are only overrated when you don't have any". Love songs are tricky, though. Then I factor in the fact that I have never actually been in love with anyone. I was about half way through the first verse, but when I realized that nothing rhymed with Jacob, I ripped the page out of the notebook and threw it in the garbage.  
I was tempted to burn it too, just to be sure that no one would ever see it and somehow report my crush back to Jake. After an hour all I had was, "You make me want to break all my rules, but letting myself kiss you would make me such a fool." and that just sucked, so it ended up in the trash right next to the first one.  
I flipped to the back of the notebook where the majority of my rules were written down and added another line.  
_Rule #15: Don't write love songs, they're awkward._


	6. Keep Tantrums Internalized If Possible

It was almost a week later when I saw Jacob again. He hadn't been in school and everyone at the lunch table was quick to change the subject when I brought it up. Somehow I thought that making friends here would make my social life a little more exciting, but I still spent ninety percent of my afternoons alone in my bedroom with my guitar or talking to my grandma about boys, Jacob in particular.

Anyway, as I was saying, I saw Jacob at lunch almost a week later. He had bags under his eyes and looked like he'd been through some kind of emotional trauma. A part of me wanted to break the rules and try to comfort him...if that's what he needed. I was in a good mood today too. I'd been surfing the internet and found an open mic night in Port Angeles. It came along just in time too, I needed a nice distraction from unavailable Jacob, my grandma's relentless meddling, and the general monotony of this town. I was starting to get a little bit stir crazy.

"So, I have news." I said once there was a break in the conversation.

"What is it?" Kim asked. I had the entire table, including Jacob's attention now, and it almost made me feel bad that my news wasn't bigger.

"I'm performing in an open mic night in Port Angeles next weekend. Would you guys like to come?"

"Are you any good? OW!" Embry sure did get kicked under the table a lot.

"Of course she is!" I don't know what surprised me more, that Jacob was the one who answered or that it seemed like people were actually going to come to see me perform at an open mic.

"Will everybody stop kicking me? At this rate my shins are going to be permanently bruised."

"It's fine Embry. My lyrics are better than my voice, but I did win an award in a nightclub in Sacramento once."

"See, Katie didn't kick me for asking a question." Said Embry, indignantly crossing his arms over his chest.

"Do I look like Katie to you?" Jake asked.

"Shut up, just because you're too much of a wuss to-STOP KICKING ME!"

"Em, I would just quit while you're ahead."

"You guys suck." he grumbled, going back to eating his lunch.

"We'd love to come. Right guys?" One by one the boys agreed to come. Except for Paul, but he's an ass anyway, so I wasn't exactly crushed at the idea of him not coming.

"Yeah, even if you do turn out to be the worst singer in the world. And if anybody kicks me for this, I'm just going to snap." Embry added.

"It'll be fun. I think we could all use a night out. Especially you Jake." Kim said with a pointed look towards me. I wondered what she meant by it.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He claimed with a glare at her.

"Sure you don't." The conversation died out right about then and shifted into Jared trying to convince Kim to let him copy her homework, Embry continuing to whine about the "physical abuse" that he has to endure, and the rest of the group stuffed their faces with lunch.

"So, Katie. Do know what you're going to wear to this thing?" Kim asked when she finally relented and handed Jared her homework.

"I don't know. Jeans?"

"You have to put more effort in it than that. How about I come over and help you get ready then we can drive to Port Angeles that day." I agreed, not wanting to turn down the opportunity to have a girls' day, and we hashed out a few of the details before the bell rang.

Before I knew it, it was the day of the open mic night. I had my guitar packed in its case with my lucky guitar pick and book of finished songs packed up and waiting for me while Kim raided my closet.

"You know, I've never seen so many black t-shirts in my entire life."

"I know what I like." I shrugged.

"Yeah and his name is Jacob Black." She giggled at her own joke and I felt my ears get hot.

"Shut up."

"Shut don't go up, only prices do." She laughed again and I couldn't help but let out a small laugh of my own.

"What, are we in the fifth grade now?"

"I'll have you know we're in the fourth grade. Get it right. This! This is perfect." She held out the purple dress/blouse thing that my grandma bought me when she thought I was going to get a date in the near future.

"Do I have to?"

"Yes. Now get your butt in this outfit so we can get your hair and makeup done so we won't be late."

"You're bossy today."

"Shut up and get dressed."

"Fine." I went into my bathroom and threw on my clothes. My hair was already flat ironed and all that was left was makeup. When I got back into my bedroom, I worried that that Kim was going bust a vein from the level of excitement she was showing.

"You look so pretty!" she squealed. You read right, I am friends with a girl that squeals.

"No need to sound so surprised about it." I retorted playfully. To make a long story short, there was a lot of eye makeup applied while Kim squealed and giggled about how awesome tonight was going to be. I tried to ignore Kim's raving about how Jacob was going to love me in this outfit, so I wouldn't have to keep reminding myself that Jacob was off limits until he adhered to my rules. Having my heart broken is definitely not on the list of experiences I wanted to have in high school.

We rode with Jared in his car and got to the club just in time for me to check in. When we got there, Jared got a text from the guys saying they were on their way and would be here soon. I tried to ignore the butterflies in my stomach at the thought of Jacob coming to watch me perform one of my songs. Speaking of which, I have to decide which one I'm going to do. Which doesn't make me nervous at all. Note the sarcasm.

The crowd inside the club was larger than I expected in a town this size. Almost every seat was filled. I was the fourth act of the night, so I got to watch one good act, one okay act, and an absolutely awful act.

And Jake still wasn't here.

Embry had shown up shortly after I did and even Paul was here, but Jake was nowhere to be found. When I brought it up, Seth grimaced and muttered something that sounded like, "I told him not to do this." But I could've heard wrong because of the music blaring from the nearby speakers. If I weren't told that it was time for me to go on, I probably would have thrown some kind of tantrum.

Rule number eleven: Keep Tantrums Internalized If Possible.

Guitar in hand, I stepped onto the stage. As I glanced through the crowd, I only became angrier that the one face I wanted to see was not among them. How I wanted to break rule number eleven. Instead, I played the angriest song I've ever written. I wrote it shortly after my mom married Calvin. Stupid Calvin.

"Hey, I'm Katie and I'm going to play a song I wrote a couple of years ago called Humans Disappoint." I originally wrote it as a way to work through my frustration at my mother for not consulting me before she got married, but I realized now that it could apply to Jacob too, which is why I chose to perform it. I couldn't quite decide if this counted as throwing a tantrum, but for the sake of my rules, I decided to think of it as creative expression.

"Thank you." I said at the end of my song as the audience applauded. I even got a few shouts of "That rocked" which would've made my day in normal circumstances. Kim was the first to hug me followed by the rest of the group except for Paul, who just said, "That didn't suck."

"Aw, Paul! That was almost a compliment!" I said, wiping an imaginary tear from my eye. As we talked and watched the next couple of acts, a new voice sounded from behind me.

"Katie! Hey, I'm here." My head whipped around, my eyes focusing on Jacob's giant form moving through the crowd of people, and just like that my night was ruined..

"So, when do you go on?" He asked with an enormous grin that I hadn't seen in a while. There were so many replies that ran through my head simultaneously. Some of them were angry while others were friendly, but I couldn't bring myself to say any of them. Instead, I just shoved past him and walked out of the building as fast as I could.

"Katie! Wait!" Kim called from behind me, but I pretended that I didn't hear.


	7. Stay Relaxed Under Pressure

**Katie's POV**

"Katie?" Grandma Betty asked when I walked through the door.

"Yeah its me."

"You're home early. I didn't think I'd see you until morning-Good god what happened to you?" I didn't blame her for her reaction. I felt waterlogged and I wouldn't doubt it if I looked like a drowned cat.

"It rains too much here. I'm going to bed." I said simply. I took a shower, removed what was left of my makeup, and got into my pajamas. As I settled into bed, I thought about the awkward ride back to La Push with Kim. The first thing she said was, "Jake's an ass, but once you get to know him..." I didn't listen after that, but I did have quite the internal monologue. _Once I got to know him? _I'd thought we were getting to know each other and he still misses my act. Whether he's an ass or not doesn't mean all that much to me, but how could he act like he wanted to see me play and then miss my performance. And if he were running late, he could've at least called or something so I would know.

I fell asleep pretty quickly after that. When I woke up my cell phone was displaying three missed calls and about a dozen texts. The calls were all from an unknown number, so I ignored them and just sent a reply to the texts, which were all from Kim. As the morning dragged on I started to realize that I was throwing myself a pity party. Not even grandma Betty could get me out of it. Maybe I needed some of that fresh air all the old people on TV are always talking about. Going down to the beach could be beneficial. After all, I'm ninety-nine percent sure that vampires are just myths and that creepy red-headed dude from a couple of weeks ago was not out to get me.

"I'm going down to the beach!" I called out to whoever was listening. I imagined it was grandma Betty, seeing as I've barely seen my mother since we moved here. I wonder if she got a job. Or maybe a boyfriend. God, I hope she didn't get another boyfriend. Another Calvin entering my life is the last thing I needed right now. And knowing my mother, who is notorious for getting involved with assholes, my next daddy is going to be an absolute bum.

"Meeting friends?" Grandma Betty called from another room.

"No. I just need to go somewhere to get this bout of self pity out of my system before I have to interact with people. No one likes the person who is always whining about how their life sucks, as if no one else has any problems. So, I'll see you later?"

"Would have fun be the right thing to say here?" She asked. I thought about it for just a second.

"Probably not, but I'll accept it since I can't think of anything better."

"Okay, then have fun."

"I'll try." With that, I closed the door behind me and made the short walk to the beach with my hair stuffed into my hat to keep it dry. I'm really starting to miss that California sun I always took for granted. When I took the first couple of steps onto the beach all I could seem to think about is how weird it was to have a beach with rocks instead of sand. Didn't anyone ever tell it that beaches were supposed to be sandy? Honestly, you'd think nature would have taken care of it by now.

Okay, I'm getting way off topic. I came here to work out the self pity/disappointment in Jacob issue, not to think about why the beach is made up of stones instead of sand. It wasn't long before I found a somewhat dry piece of driftwood to sit on. I hadn't grabbed my iPod or anything, so I wasn't really sure what to do with myself other than stare out at the water and talk to myself like a lonely weirdo. Now, to work through my newly found problems. There was Jacob, the fact that I kept wanting to break my rules, self pity, and the possibility of me being insane for considering the existence of vampires.

I had a feeling I might be here for a while.

* * *

**Jacob's POV**

I'll admit that being late for Katie's open mic last night was not my finest hour.

"Did I miss something?" I asked after she had walked right by me and out of the building. I knew I was late, but I don't think Katie would be upset about that. Something must have happened before I got here. Part of me wanted to follow, but it seemed like Katie needed her space, so I just watched Kim run after her.

"Other than the fact that you blew off her performance to...what were you doing anyway?" Kim asked after she failed to get Katie back inside.

"Bella was having some family drama. Apparently one of the leeches we killed last year was the mate of one of her cousins and I happened to be in wolf form when this cousin was there and she flipped out and took a swim across the pacific. It was very soap opera now that I think of it."

"You said you would be here and then you don't show up. That's why she ran out of here you asshole."

"It's not my fault!" I defended myself. It wasn't like I could just leave when everyone at the Cullen's place was freaking out about their cousin taking off without a word.

"Yes it is! If you would've just given up on Bella when you imprinted then you wouldn't be in this mess, now would you?"

"You know I just can't give up on her, Kim."

"Why not. She chose Edward, you imprinted, so just go for Katie already!" Kim was on the verge of shouting, but I wasn't worried since any person who was listening probably couldn't have figured out what we were talking about anyway.

"I'm done talking about this."

"Fine, but don't be upset in the end when you don't get Bella or Katie." I don't remember what I said to that, but the next thing I knew, I was in my car on my way back home.

* * *

**Katie's POV**

I'd been on the beach for about an hour or so I guess and I was pretty much over my self pity. I guess fresh air does wonders. Either that or I was distracted by the redhead down the beach. He was too far away for me to see him clearly, but there was a strong possibility that this was the same man from before. I wasn't too keen on the idea of waiting to find out. But I had to be sneaky and act natural, which were two things that I could not do under pressure.

_Rule number two: Stay Relaxed Under Pressure._

I took a few deep breaths and got up from my spot on the stump, trying to make it look like I had just grown tired of sitting. I tried to watch the man through my peripheral vision, but the second I got up, he was gone. I knew I could have relaxed since there was no sign of him, but I was getting that feeling like I was being watched. I kept my posture as relaxed as I could manage and starting making the walk back to my house.

"Looking for me." Even though he wasn't anywhere near me seconds ago, the man was directly in front of me now, so close that my eyes were staring right at his nose. There is no doubt in my mind now, this is definitely the redheaded bionic dude.

"No. I was just on my way home." I said calmly, ignoring the intense fear building up inside me and trying to seem unfazed by him. I knew I couldn't outrun him and if this man was still as strong as he was a few weeks ago, I wouldn't be able to fight him off long enough to get away.

"I don't think so."

"Look I don't have time for this-" His hand wrapped around my throat before I could finish. I couldn't scream for help and I seriously doubted that any giant wolves were going to come to my rescue. Seeing how these were probably my last moments of life, I really wished I could think of something better than "I'm screwed."

If I live through this, Don't Walk on the Beach Alone is definitely becoming a new rule.


	8. Don't Get Distracted by Cute Boys

Things started happening very quickly. I don't think I could accurately describe it if I tried. So, there I was, getting strangled by the redheaded dude whose name I still didn't remember. I'm pretty sure it started with a V though. Victor, Vance, Vinny-Vince! That was it! On second thought, I really shouldn't be so excited that I remembered the name of the guy who was about to kill me. Now, I think I was starting to get a little light headed from the lack of air getting to my lungs, so I'm not sure how much of what happened next was in my head or not. There was a growl, some kind of rustling, and the universal look of "oh shit" on Vince's face.

Next thing I knew, the pressure on my throat was gone and I was flying through the air. I landed awkwardly on top of my wrist and could've sworn I heard a crunch. When I got over the shock and was able to focus again, I saw a giant reddish brown wolf mauling Vince. I would be lying if I said that I was upset about this, after all, the guy did try to kill me twice. As Vince was getting attacked, I found it odd that I didn't see any blood or anything. There was just growling and some kind of metallic screeching sound that I've never heard before. The wolf and Vince were fighting for quite some time, and for a good portion of that time I was focusing on the new found pain shooting through my left wrist.

I didn't even glance back toward the fight until I smelt some kind of sweet-smelling smoke. There was a pyre distinctly humanoid, and I could've sworn I made out a hand in the flames. All in all, it wasn't pleasant to look at.

Now, here's where things start to get trippy. The reddish wolf that had saved my life was now walking slowly towards me, as if it were trying not to frighten me more. Even on all fours it was still significantly taller than me, but it wasn't freaking me out like I expected it to. All I could do is sit there, rub at my injured wrist, and wish I had a rule about what to do when a giant dog starts walking towards you.

"Nice Doggy?" I think the wolf actually rolled its eyes at me. It was such a human action that it was almost scary. Well, more scary than things already were at this point. It seemed to think about something for a second before letting out some kind of dog sigh and standing up on his hind legs. Then this weird shimmery thing happened and then it wasn't a wolf standing in front of me, it was Jacob. He was naked and I had to force myself to keep my eyes above his waistline, as if this situation was not this awkward. I only wish I was as calm in the moment as I was when I recollected it later.

"You just...and the wolf...and-gah! Naked!" Was about the gist of what I said.

"I know this is a lot to take in." Wasn't that just the understatement of the century!

"A lot to take in! Telling someone that you have a kid you didn't know about or that you eloped with some girl you met last night is a lot to take in! This is...this is...I'm going crazy aren't I?" Even though I felt like an insane person, I was still focusing on Jake's abs. Freaky hallucination or not, his abs were so hot I could just bake cookies on them.

"Just relax, Katie and I'll explain everything." I barely heard what he was saying as my eyes were still roaming over his body and my mind was chanting, _"Rule number ten: Don't get distracted by cute boys"_ over and over.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I can focus until you put on a pair of pants. And maybe a shirt too." Jake actually shot me a smug smile before he bent down and untied a cord that attached a pair of cutoff shorts.

"You know, you're taking this pretty well."

"I'm in the process of convincing myself that this is either a dream, or my mind has finally collapsed from the pressure of being me." He laughed and for a second I almost forgot what just happened.

"Its not a dream, I promise. Let's go back to Emily's and I'll explain everything." he offered a hand, and I grabbed onto it with my good hand and he helped me up off the ground. We had to walk there, but I didn't mind. Since I had a little bit of time to process everything that I saw, I was feeling a bit calmer than I was a few seconds ago.

"So, you turn into a giant wolf sometimes."

"Yeah. So, you get attacked by vampires sometimes." He countered.

"So he was a vampire?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"That's such a relief." I said as my worries seemed to leave my body all at once. Jacob looked at me like I'd grown a second head or something. I thought through what I'd said and realized how it must have sounded.

"No! I mean, I thought I was going insane for believing in that kind of stuff. I thought I'd have to institutionalize myself." I explained.

"That makes more sense."

"Well I'm not completely crazy." I said playfully.

"I still can't believe how well your taking this. When Kim found out, she freaked, went into denial for a couple of days, and refused to even look at Jared for over a week. The only person I've seen take it better was Bella." And just like that, any happiness I'd been feeling was gone. I was probably being overly dramatic, but it felt like people were constantly comparing me to Bella. I've never even met her and I already hate her.

"Kim knows?" I asked, trying to mimic my enthusiasm from earlier.

"Of course she knows, she's with Jared." I didn't quite understand how the two were related, but I decided not to push the issue. We were at Emily's house now. I don't think I've ever met her, but I remembered grandma Betty saying something about how she was mauled by a bear.

"Are you sure this is okay? I don't want to just barge in or anything."

"Emily would be more upset if you didn't come. Everyone is already inside." The smell of fresh baked muffins assaulted my nose and my stomach growled. A large table in the middle of the room had a buffet style meal laid out with everyone from my lunch table stuffing their faces around it.

"Katie! I guess the wolf's out of the bag." Kim said from her spot next to Jared.

"Hey, you stole my line!" Embry complained and I waited for the thump that indicated someone had kicked him under the table again. But it didn't come, I guess he wasn't saying anything that the rest of the group thought was too much.

"It sounds so much better when I say it, right Jared?" Embry looked expectantly at Jared. In situations like these, the girlfriend always wins. I was actually shocked that Embry didn't know that.

"Anyway, you and Jake huh?" Kim asked excitedly.

"What do you mean?" I asked as Jacob was making gestures for her to stop talking.

"Didn't he tell you? He would have to wouldn't he? It'll be so nice now that there's another..." Jacob had finally got her attention and Kim scrambled to find an ending to her sentence, "Cancers." She finished.

"I'm a Sagittarius, but I'm going to pretend that was how you planned on ending that sentence. I'm sure he will tell me whatever you guys are keeping from me, won't you Jacob?"

"Sure sure."

"So are those muffins for everyone?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood. Conversation flowed easily and it was amazing how casually they talked about running around the forest as giant dogs and saving innocents from being a vampire's meal. If I hadn't seen Jacob shift with my own eyes, I don't think I could've believed any of this. It was impossible, but once the shock wore off, it was actually pretty cool to hang out with werewolves, except when Leah came. The only word I can use to describe her is unpleasant. She'd only been there about ten minutes when I couldn't take it anymore and pretended that my grandma would kill me if I didn't get home right that minute. It wasn't the most creative excuse, but it worked.

Jacob had parked his car at Emily's house so he offered to drive me home. When we were on our way he noticed the swelling on my wrist.

"You hurt yourself."

"It doesn't hurt that bad." I wasn't even lying that time. It felt a lot worse earlier, and it was probably just a sprain anyway.

"You should get that looked at." He suggested. I rolled my eyes.

"If it gets any worse, I'll go to the doctor. Okay?" He seemed to know that he wouldn't get an offer much better than that, so he just nodded. We were back at my house in no time.

"I guess I probably won't see you tomorrow." he nodded.

"Okay, then I'll see you Monday, Jacob. And you can tell me all about this werewolf business you've been avoiding." I said as I got out of his car.

"See you Monday."


	9. If You Are Going to Lie, Lie Well

Since I found out that all my friends, except for Kim, were werewolves, I'd been having some abnormally vivid dreams. They always involve me running away from something I never see, and Jacob saving me. I was a little pissed off that my subconscious was making me out to be the damsel in distress and Jake the "knight in shining armor", but it's not like I have a choice in what I dream.

So, when I got to school on Monday, I was on the verge of falling asleep. Those dreams I mentioned earlier tend to wake me up at around three or four in morning. I really hope they stop soon, I don't know how much longer I can go without adequate sleep every night. It's only been two nights and I already feel like I'm on the verge of death. Stupid annoying dreams.

"Katie!"

"Ah! Why did you just shout at me?" I was trying to use my textbook as pillow, and Kim was trying to ruin it for me with her stupid yelling.

"Well, aren't you pleasant this morning."

"My dreams keep waking me up at ungodly hours of the morning and I'm trying to catch up on my sleep now." I explained trying to position my head on the textbook in a way that would make it feel more like a pillow.

"Well, it's time to change classes, and I don't think the teacher wants you to stay."

"Fine. I'll go sleep in math."

"Good girl. See you at lunch!" Kim said as she went the opposite direction from me. I really want sleep now. Sleep, what a glorious thing. How I miss sleep. I didn't dream in math, but unfortunately the annoying guy who sits next to me decided to be a teacher's pet and wake me up every time I'm on the verge of a deep, blissful nap.

"Everybody shut up." I said when I took my seat at the lunch table. I kind of shouted at them, so it shouldn't have surprised me that Embry was so startled he threw his sandwich into the air and I watched in land on the floor behind him.

"Why is it always me?" I ignored his comment, because it was my turn to talk now.

"Now that I have your attention, I want you all to know that the next," I checked my watch. "thirty-eight minutes are going to be Katie's nap time. Since the reason for me not getting enough sleep is that I keep having dreams about you guys, I expect that you all will be respectful as I nap." With that I made a makeshift pillow out of my jacket and tried to fall asleep for the umpteenth time today.

"You know, it wasn't very nice of you to do that to your friends, Katie." I knew that voice. It was one of my favorite non-famous voices, but I didn't really want to give up on sleep just yet. Jacob Black would just have to wait.

"Come on, Katie. I know you're faking now."

"No I'm not. I'm just sleep talking." I lied.

_Rule number six: If you're going to lie, lie well._

"You're a little liar."

"You're the one making me break rule number six, so you can just shut up."

"Will you ever give up on those rules?" He asked. I was used to that question. I'd gotten it once from my mom, and several times from grandma Betty. It seems that I'll have to start answering to my friends now that I actually have some. I gave Jacob my standard answer.

"The chances are slim to none." I had given up on trying to sleep at lunch and joined the lunchtime conversation. I ended up talking to Jacob mostly, since Embry was whining about his rotten luck and Kim was starting to make googly eyes at Jared. I don't know if you've ever tried to have a conversation with a couple who is still in their "honeymoon phase", but in my experience with Kim and Jared, it's fairly disgusting. I don't really care if a couple wants to make out, but I think it would be polite to save it until their friends leave. Because that's just awkward.

I got off topic, so anyway like I was saying, I was talking to Jacob all throughout lunch. When he's not missing open mic performances that he said he'd come to, he's actually okay to talk to. I think I mentioned that before, but I'm kind of mad at him for missing my performance. So, I was talking to him about werewolves, and you can't blame me for being curious. It turns out that Hollywood has it all wrong, which is a shame if you ask me. How am I supposed to get any sleep if a silver bullet won't keep the big bad wolf from coming to get me? At least they hunt vampires, which are now my biggest fear. Hopefully I won't be attacked again, but if I am at least I have an entire pack of werewolf friends to save my life or avenge my death if needed.

"So is there anything in pop culture related to werewolves that isn't crap?" I asked Jacob when he shot down yet another myth I asked him about. Real werewolves are not nearly as much fun. Jake seemed to think about it for a minute before he answered.

"Not that I can think of at the top of my head." He shrugged.

"Well why don't you tell me something cool about werewolves that I don't know?" I challenged. Embry must have run out of things to say about his terrible luck, and answered for Jacob.

"Why don't you tell her about imprinting?" There was a thud and Embry flinched. If I knew anything about Embry it was that he never failed to get kicked under the table at least once a day.

"What's imprinting?" I asked. Jake was too busy giving death glares to the entire table to answer me, and Embry looked like he wanted to, but was too afraid that he'd be kicked under the table again to say anything.

"Kim?" I asked, hoping she would give me an answer.

"I really think its Jacob's place to tell you." I sighed and turned to Jacob.

"It's not important." He said, not looking me in the eye.

"If its not important then you can tell me, right?"

"Its complicated." This conversation was starting to get annoying. What could be so bad about imprinting? Whatever it was, it couldn't be as bad as Jake was making it out to be.

"Just tell me."

"I can't." Now I was done with this conversation completely. I thought after a few days he would've come around and just decided not to keep things from me. I can't quite put my finger on why I care, but I wanted to know.

"When you make up your mind on what you're going to tell me, you can come find me, but for now, goodbye." I stood up from my seat and walked away from the table. I still had about ten minutes before the bell rang and nowhere to go, but you can't say something like that and then come back. Life was so much less complicated when you don't have any friends.


	10. Avoid Handling Sharp or Pointy Objects

Okay, confession time. I've been avoiding Jake like the plague since the "What the hell is imprinting" conversation. I know its a completely cliche thing for teenage girl such as myself to do, but what can I say? I've got it bad for Jacob Black. Now, before I start getting into the awesomeness that is my life story, I just want to list some things that have been depressing me lately.

First, I can't for the life of me stop breaking my most important rule. I've watched my mother pine after unavailable men at least half a dozen times, but my stupid emotions keep making me want Jacob Black. Its almost like I want to get hurt. And speaking of my mother, she started dating some big shot surgeon in Seattle. I thought her time for romance was up. She's already been through three husbands. If she keeps going at this rate, she's going to become one of those moms that have to beat the teenage boys off her with a stick. I'm the teenager, shouldn't I be the one getting dates? But then again, my awkwardness kind of killed my love life before it even had a chance to live.

Next thing: prom. It's still winter and the girls in my class are already going crazy about the idea of prom. Now I've never actually danced with anyone before, so I can't tell you if I suck or not, but I doubt it would be pretty. I think the thing that depresses me more is that I don't even have the option of going. I'm not delusional enough to think that I'm even going to get asked, but I secretly want to go. I know a lot of people just go with their friends, but some of the guys in my group will be out on patrol that night and the ones who aren't either won't go or will have dates. I know Jared and Kim are going together, mostly because I can count on one hand how many times I had seen one without the other.

And the last thing. Jacob is spending all his time with Bella Cullen. I hadn't asked about any of this directly, since it would only make me feel like crap, but now that I knew the werewolf secret, everyone spoke more freely around me. It was actually a really nice feeling if I thought about it. Anyway, I'd heard through Embry that everyday during the lunch period, Jake was leaving campus and making the drive out to Forks to visit Bella Cullen. I don't know what the hell he is doing over there all the time, but thinking about it makes me wonder if people who cut themselves are onto something when it comes to emotional pain. I'd also caught tidbits about a lot of vampires being in the area, causing a lot of really young reservation kids to shift into wolves. I don't know what that had to do with Jake spending time with Bella, but Embry had given the other wolves at the table a meaningful look. I don't even know what Bella Cullen is like. For all I know she is the most giving, honest, funny, and all around good person in the entire world. But then again Jake could just like her if she's supermodel pretty. Is it so wrong to want to know what your competition is like?

And that thought brings me to today. I just had to know what was so freaking special about Bella Cullen. I needed know if all hope was lost with Jake and I'll admit that in the process I did do something a little crazy. Now before I say what exactly I did, I just want to point out that I do not condone this kind of behavior from myself under normal conditions. So, this afternoon while Grandma Betty was out shopping and my mom was on a date with her surgeon, I went into the kitchen and grabbed a knife from one of the drawers. It was so sharp, I'd be willing to bet I could shave with it. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and made one somewhat deep cut on a section of forehead that was always covered with my hair. I wanted to pump Dr. Cullen for information, not permanently mutilate myself. It hurt way more than I thought it would and it would most definitely need stitches. I also learned that head wounds don't just bleed like a normal cut or scrape, they freaking gush blood. I thought it would get into my eyes a couple of times. That was about when I realized I should have thought my plan through a little bit more thoroughly. I don't have a car, and with the amount of blood that has been coming out of my head, I didn't think I would be able to take a cab or a bus down to Forks. There was no one around to drive me either. I really hope I don't pass out or anything. My grandma spends an insane amount of time at the store and if I waited for her to come back, I would probably already be on the verge of death by the time she got home. I didn't know where my mom was going for her date, but I would be willing to bet that it was far enough away that she wouldn't be any help. So, there I stood, in the kitchen with a knife in my hand and blood covering parts of my face. I didn't have any way to get to the emergency room for some stitches, so instead I just imagined how stupid the headline for the news story for my death would be.

_Accidental Suicide Result of Teen Stupidity and Jacob Black's Infatuation with Bella Cullen._

It was a little bit long, but I think that it describes the situation pretty well. A couple of minutes later I started to feel lightheaded, but I think it was mostly psychological as opposed to me actually losing enough blood to pass out. I grabbed a dish towel and tried to stop the bleeding even though I knew it probably wouldn't help much, but I thought my grandma would be a little less angry with me if I didn't get blood all over her floors. After I got the towel, I was hit by a stroke of genius. My grandma had emergency phone numbers on the fridge! I looked through the short list of names until I got to the local doctor's. He was the one everybody went to after Dr. Cullen started working at the hospital and would probably be able to help me. I dialed the numbers. He answered on the third ring.

"Hi, I'm Katie Abner and I'm in need of medical attention." I told him.

"Would you like to set up an appointment at my office?" He asked.

"I would, but if I did I would have no way to get there and this entire situation would become even stupider. Let me explain, I was being beyond idiotic and one thing led to another and now I am bleeding quite profusely from my head. Can you help me?" If I weren't still freaking out, I would have been impressed with how calm I sounded, even if I was babbling. He seemed unsure that I wasn't lying to him, but after a little more coaxing he decided to make a house call for me. I made myself comfortable by the door while I waited, trying to pretend that I wasn't bleeding.

New rule: Avoid Handling Sharp or Pointy Objects.

The doctor came pretty quickly. By the look on his face when he saw me, he was definitely not expecting me to be bleeding this much. It didn't take long for him to stitch me up, and I was surprised it didn't hurt. I paid him cash too before he left, that way he would be less likely to mention this incident to Grandma Betty or my mom. When the doctor was gone, I checked out my stitches in the bathroom mirror. If my hair didn't cover it, I bet the scar would make me look really bad ass and dangerous. I won't lie, I made a few faces at myself in the mirror, mostly trying to see if I could make myself look intimidating. I can't, just so you know. My faces mostly made me look like I was about to have some kind of stroke.

A couple of days passed after the incident and I decided it would be a much smarter idea to just ask Jacob about Bella. And that's exactly what I would have done if I were actually able to find him. I guess when I was spending all my time avoiding him, he had taken the opportunity to avoid me as well. Even with Jake avoiding me, I didn't do anything even remotely crazy. I just waited for him to show up, but after two days my patience was entirely gone. I was angry and just a little bit hurt that he hadn't talked to me in so long, so I talked to the one person in the group who couldn't keep his mouth shut if he tried. Embry.

"Embry, do you know where Jake is?" I asked nicely.

"Nope." He said a little too quickly.

"Yes you do. Why are you lying to me?" I asked, trying to sound as nice as I did the first time.

"Because nothing good can come from me telling you." He almost looked afraid now.

"Please tell me." I used my sweetest voice.

"Fine, but you aren't going to like it." Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be a very unpleasant conversation?


	11. Only Hurt People If They Deserve It

I was right. This conversation is not fun at all. It wasn't that bad that Embry told me that Jake was with Bella Cullen again. After all, I'd kind of been expecting that answer, but what I didn't know was that he was getting ready to go into a messed up vampire battle with the Cullen's. And that's not even the weirdest part, this messed up battle is over a baby. I can't speak for anyone else, but that little tidbit is really making me question the overall intelligence of vampires. Isn't a baby kind of a stupid thing to risk a bunch of people's lives for? I mean it would be different if it were just the baby's family that was willing to do it, but they've got a good percentage of the vampire population in on this battle. I don't understand it at all. Why do all these vampires care enough about this random baby to kill it? Babies don't do much of anything. I seriously doubt its hurting anybody. And aren't wars for grown ups anyway?

"Its not quite that simple, Katie." Embry interrupted my thoughts.

"Can you make it simple?" I asked.

"Not really, no."

"Fine. I've got time. Explain." I said. And Embry talked for quite some time about how vampires theoretically weren't supposed to be able to have babies, so they used to turn babies into vampires. Apparently vampire children are freaking scary, killing entire towns during one tantrum kind of scary. Then Bella Cullen got pregnant before she was a vampire and had a half-vampire baby and now the vampire leaders are having their own tantrum about the Cullen's breaking the rules. I now know that all these factors contribute to an all out vampire war, a vampire war that Jacob is willing to die during. I've officially inherited my mother's taste in men.

"Let me make sure I have this straight. A ton of vampires are coming to Forks to try and kill a half-vampire baby and anyone else who stands in their way, right?" I asked.

"Yep." said Embry.

"And Jacob is going to fight on the Cullen's side, right?"

"Yep." I thought about things for a minute before I exploded.

"IS HE INSANE? HE'S GOING TO DIE FOR A STUPID CRUSH?" Luckily my words were so out of context that anybody who was listening nearby would just think I'm a crazy person. Embry put his hand over my mouth to keep me from saying anything else.

"Are you trying to condemn my shins to torture?" I thought seriously about biting his hand, but I wasn't sure if it would be an action that would hurt me and not him. My mom spent too much money on braces a couple of years ago for me to wreck my teeth now. For the safety of my teeth, I had to break my promise. I kicked my dear friend Embry in the shins. I don't think I hurt him as much as I surprised him, and honestly I felt really bad about it.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" I said when my mouth was free of his hand. I think the last time I broke a promise to someone who wasn't my mother or my terrible ex-stepdad Calvin. I guess I'm a generally honest person, but then again I also hadn't had all that many people to lie to before I moved here. I really hope this doesn't somehow jeopardize our friendship. With a personality like mine, I can't afford to lose any friends. I can't go back to being alone, I might actually go insane this time.

"You kicked my shins." He said.

"I know and if it helps, I feel really bad about it."

"But you kicked me."

"It was all for the well-being of my teeth. I promise." I was really hoping my apology slash explanation wasn't coming out sounding sarcastic. It's happened before and I haven't said sorry to someone in a really long time, so I figure my apologizing skills haven't gotten any better.

"You said you would never kick me." His lower lip jutted out in a pout and now I was feeling really bad. I never thought he would get so upset about a little tiny kick to the shin. I declare that this is the stupidest reason for a friend break up ever, so of course its happening to me. If I were a more emotional girl I'm pretty sure I'd cry right now. I'd never been through a friend break up before. Is it like a couple break up where you still have to sit with all your friends and pretend like it isn't insanely awkward? And pretend that you are completely okay with sitting in such close proximity to each other when in reality it makes you want to kill yourself a little bit? I don't think I'm stable enough to go through a friend break up. I don't do well in awkward situations! I'm me, I'm almost too awkward to function in normal situations!

Then the weirdest thing of all happened. He started laughing. He was almost crying from how hard he was laughing. I don't know why it made me want to cry a little bit, but it did. My eyes weren't even watering, just so you know. All of that talk of crying was just my regular internal thoughts. None of this showed on the outside. I think.

"You...should have seen...your face!" He forced out through his laughing.

"That was a mean trick! I thought you were actually mad at me!" I really wanted to kick him in the shins again, but thought it could cause a repeat of the conversation we just had.

"I'm sorry. You're just so fun to mess with. Don't be mad, its what friends do."

"But you tricked me." I'll let you in on a secret, I wasn't upset at all. After all, when you're in high school messing with your friend's head is how you play. What better way to show your friend you care?

"I said I was sorry." He said and another one of those strokes of genius hit me. That was twice in the same week. Sure the first one was kind of stupid, but it was still genius that I could not panic and call any kind of doctor while that much blood was coming out of me.

"I know, but this level of emotional trauma is going to require a favor." I am the greatest actress alive! Not really, but you get my point.

"What kind of favor?"

"The kind that involves you letting me borrow your car." I kept my upset face in place so he wouldn't realize I wasn't mad at him.

"You...what...NO!" He spluttered.

"Come on please."

"Do you even know how to drive?" He asked, and that offended me just a little bit.

"Yes I can drive! I have a license and everything!" I told him, still hoping that he would let me borrow his car. He let out a breath he had been holding.

"If I lend it to you, you have to tell me what you are going to do with it."

"I was just going to go pay Jacob a little visit at the Cullen's house."

"Why?" I'd had high hopes that he wouldn't ask me that question, but I guess my quota of luck for the day had run out.

"I'm going to go bludgeon Jake with a tire iron until he sees sense." I'm not sure if I actually meant what I told him, but it sounded like a good plan either way. Maybe Jake was the type of guy that needed sense to literally be knocked into him, and I am more than happy to provide that service. I'm pretty sure it would be a win-win situation too. Jake would be reasonable again and I probably wouldn't hurt him too badly thanks to that accelerated werewolf healing I've heard about.

"The scary thing is I can't tell if you're serious or not, so I'm going to hand you my keys and ask that you don't hurt me." I laughed and grabbed the keys in his outstretched hand.

"See you later, Embry." Thanks to small town life, it wasn't hard for me to find out where the Cullen's lived. I just drove to Forks and asked the first person I saw. It didn't take that long to drive to their house, but I sat in their driveway for a good while trying to build up my nerve. Part of me was nervous purely because I was at a stranger's house about to knock on their door with a tire iron in my hand and ask them if Jacob was around. The other part of me was freaking terrified that I was going to willingly be inside a vampire's house. I really didn't want anybody else to try to eat me. I used to have a theory that humans didn't taste very good, which is why no predators ate us, but that was before I knew that vampires existed. And vampires obviously thought humans were very tasty. Well, actually that's not true either. They don't actually eat humans, they only drink the blood.

My train of thought isn't helping.

I got out of Embry's car with the tire iron I'd found sitting on his back seat, and walked up to the front door. It was the glass kind of door and I've always hated those since there never seemed to be a doorbell next to them. I hated knocking on glass doors, they always made me feel like I was invading someone's privacy. But I knocked anyway. A blonde guy I've never seen before answered the door.

"Hi, I know you don't know me, but I'm Katie Abner. Is Jacob here?" I asked without even babbling. I'm getting better with that nervous talking thing I do.

"Yes. Can I ask why you have that tire iron?" He asked.

"I have it just in case I feel the urge to beat Jacob, and if that happens I don't want to injure myself by trying to punch him while he has that wolf super healing thing going on. Plus my wrist still kind of hurts from when I fell on it while I was being attacked by that one vampire a while back. Speaking of vampires, you aren't feeling any homicidal urges towards me right now, are you? Because if you are, I would like some type of warning, so that way I can at least have a bit of a head start. As it turns out, I'm an awful vampire slayer." So much for getting rid of that nervous talking thing. He laughed and I think that was a good sign. Only insane people would laugh before they kill you, right? This guy seemed pretty sane to me.

"Jacob is right over here." He led me into the living room where a whole group of vampires were standing around, with Jacob sitting off to the side. He got up when he saw me.

"Katie? What are you doing here?" Jake asked.

"I just wanted to ask when exactly it was that you lost your mind."

"Jake is this your imprint?" The reddish brown haired vampire asked.

"Okay, you people are going to have to stop using that word if you aren't going to tell me what it means." I said as my grip tightened around the tire iron.

"It's basically a soul mate thing. It means you guys are meant to be together in some form." One of the girl vampires said. On the one hand I was happy to finally be in on the secret, but on the other hand I was pretty pissed off. I would have taken a couple of swings at Jake, but I don't think he's done anything to deserve it yet. I could still change my mind though.

Rule number eight: Only Hurt People If They Deserve It.

"You know Jake, I came here originally to talk you out of fighting a vampire's war, but now I'm a little fixated on the whole soul mate thing. And what I really want to know is why you're still crushing on Bella if I'm your soul mate or whatever. Wait never mind, I don't want to know. And I like you, I mean I really like you, and you don't even talk to me most of the time. How crazy is that?"

"It's not really that crazy-" Jake started to say, but I cut him off. It was my turn to talk.

"Maybe not. And by the way, I don't know if you've noticed, but Bella is married. As in she doesn't want you. So you really don't have to fight for her anymore. I may be really pissed at you right now, but I don't want you to die. So please just stay out of this." I wondered if my train of thought was making sense, but no one was looking at me weird so I must have been more coherent than I felt.

"I can't." He said.

"Fine then its time for plan B. I'm going to beat you with this until you agree with me." I told him, gesturing to the tire iron. I'd decided not to hit him with it, but I hoped my threat would be enough to change his mind. He didn't look scared. He may have even called my bluff. Maybe he knew that I wouldn't be able to actually hit him without feeling extremely guilty about it.

"Why don't you just go home?" Jacob asked.

"Fine." I turned and walked back the way I came, wishing I had used the tire iron. It was stupid, but his words actually hurt me even when he barely said anything. And it wasn't like he even insulted me. I'd call what he did a mild rejection and I'm pretty sure I could recover from it.

Either way, being a teenager sucks and Jacob is stupid.


	12. Don't Let Friends Alter the Code

I'll be the first to admit that I don't cope with rejection any better than the stereotypical teenage girl. Its embarrassing, but I've been holed up in my bedroom every moment that I wasn't at school eating raw cookie dough and chocolate ice cream. I have to get over this emotional blow soon or I'm going to be fatter than my great uncle Sal on my dad's side of the family. By the way, my great uncle Sal is about three hundred and fifty pounds, bald, and hasn't had a girlfriend since the 1970's. I really don't want to be as fat as my great uncle Sal. But I still took another spoonful of cookie dough from the package and put it in my mouth.

"Thanks Mrs. Abner...I'm sorry if that's not your last name...Bye Katie's mom!" It sounded like Kim just had an unpleasant conversation with my mother. Its best just to say hi and bye to my mother, that way she can't scold you about anything. She once lectured me for a good half hour about how Calvin wasn't going bald, he just had a large forehead. Calvin was definitely going bald, just for the record. Next thing I knew, Kim was barging into my room.

"Katie...what are you doing?" She seemed like she was going to say something else, but noticed what I was doing and just had to ask.

"Nothing." I said guiltily through a mouthful of chocolate chip cookie dough. Kim looked from me to my trashcan and back.

"How much cookie dough have you eaten?" She asked with her mouth hanging open a little bit.

"Three packages." I said, switching to the carton of chocolate ice cream.

"I think you have a problem. So I'm just going to take this..." She trailed off and made a grab for my ice cream and cookie dough. Some friend she is! Wasn't there some guideline in the girl code that prohibits this? Like thou shalt not take away thy friends comfort food? If it isn't, someone should definitely add it to the girl code. I think it's imperative that they do. Either way, there's no way Kim's getting her paws on my food. Death first.

"No I don't. I'll have you know its very common on my father's side of the family to eat your feelings! You can ask any unmarried man on that side, they're all over two hundred pounds and have no complaints! Its wonderful."

"Okay, I'm going to go for a different approach. Those crazy rules that you keep spouting out at the lunch table. Is there one about overeating?" She tried. I glanced at the notebook on my bedside table.

"Nope." I shoved another spoonful of ice cream into my mouth triumphantly. Instead of sighing in defeat like I expected her to do, she grabs my notebook and quickly flips to the pages of rules. I nearly dumped the half-melted ice cream on the carpet in my haste to get up. Kim already had a pen in her hand and was about to do the unthinkable. I thought about my options as quickly as I could manage. The way I saw it, there were only two. Option One: I could football tackle her and pry my notebook out of her hands. Somehow, I don't think that would be beneficial to our friendship and I could do without a repeat of what happened with Embry. That's the last time I kick him in the shins, I'll tell you that much. So that left me with Option Two: break my rules and throw a tantrum until she takes pity on me and gives in.

"KIM! You can't do that! It breaks rule number three: Don't Let Friends Alter the Code. You can check it, its there!" I pointed at my notebook frantically, trying to get her to look at it. She ignored my complaints and scribbled as she said, "Over...eating...is...bad...Handle...emotions...be tter." Kim smiled and handed my notebook back to me. For a second I didn't know what to say, which I think was a first for me. I think a couple of minutes passed before I said anything.

"I declare this rule void as it breaks rule number three!" I shouted.

"Overruled." She said. I was speechless again. I didn't have a rule for this. Has my friendship with her given her some power that I hadn't realized? I should have written down what to do when someone deliberately breaks the code. Killing would be wrong on about eighteen different levels not to mention the illegality of the action and the irrevocable guilt I would feel. And between you and me, I can only bludgeon things. I can't even kill a bug in my bedroom without enlisting Grandma Betty's help. Public humiliation is out of the question too, since I would probably end up screwing that up, and Kim is kind of my only girl friend. If I screwed this up, I would probably turn into one of those girls that teacher's call young man by accident. It happened to me once in the ninth grade. That bitchy teacher didn't even apologize when she realized I was a girl. After that I started wearing eyeliner in the hopes that something like that wouldn't happen again. So far it hasn't.

"Did I break you?" She asked. I guess I hadn't said anything for a couple of minutes.

"Maybe. I don't know how to handle this situation. I need more cookie dough." I reached for the quarter package of cookie dough that was left only to have Kim snatch the package out of my reach. I tried reaching for the ice cream, but she snatched that away too. I may have whined a little bit.

"You're mean today." I complained. I wanted my cookie dough. I could write a song about it. I think it would go something like, "Oh cookie dough, cookie dough, you helped me forget all my woes. You filled the cracks of my heart until Kim tore us apart."

It probably won't ever make the top forty songs, but I bet it could generate a cult following. After all, who doesn't like cookie dough? I guess some people make the stupid raw eggs argument. Let me tell you, I've been munching on raw cookie dough since I had teeth and I've never even gotten close to getting salmonella. I think parents just tell their kids that so they can lick the bowl themselves.

"I know you're upset about Jacob, but fattening yourself up won't make you feel any better."

"Did you miss the part where I told you about my dad's side of the family? Remember they're fat but content. That could be me someday." I whined. Kim gave me a really weird look.

"Katie. I'm saying this because you are my friend and I love you. Don't do this to yourself. I don't want to, but I will stage an intervention if I have to." I think that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me, and I told her so.

"What I'm about to say, you should commit to memory, because the last time I said what I'm about to say was September eighteenth 2004. You're right. And I propose we blame this fifteen day long cookie dough and chocolate ice cream binge I've been on, on Jacob Black." Kim laughed and got me to leave my bedroom. I didn't ask where we were going as she led me outside and into the passenger seat of her car. I was just thrilled that she snapped me out of my state and actually got me to leave the house.

"Where are we going? Because my curfew on school nights in eight o'clock." I asked when I noticed the clock on her car radio. It was seven fifty-eight.

"You do realize Christmas break started three days ago?" Kim asked. That explained so much. Like how I thought I skipped school everyday this week without so much as a phone call home. I really need to pay more attention when I'm depressed. Or I can do one step better. From now on I vow that I will only be depressed if someone dies or is in a coma.

"I do now. Don't judge me."

"We're going to Sam and Emily's place."

"Why?" Kim mumbled something, but I couldn't tell what she said, so I asked again.

"The vampire battle is kind of tomorrow...and we're kind of hanging out just in case." She said. I thought about throwing myself out of the moving car for just a second.

"I'm guessing that Jacob will be there. Am I right?" I asked. Kim nodded.

"I want my cookie dough."

"Don't be fat and lonely like your dad's side of the family." She scolded. I sighed and thought about how happy I was being my present pant size.

"Fine, but you should know if I get a hold of another tire iron you will be responsible if I bludgeon Jacob with it." I told her. When we got to Sam and Emily's place, I may have sat in the car and refused to move for a good five minutes. In my defense though, I was only doing that because I desperately needed to build some nerve up. I really wish I was born with more of a backbone. It most likely would have prevented a lot of the embarrassing situations in my life. When I was finally out of the car, I found Kim on the back porch with a couple of other people. I hadn't seen Jacob yet, but I was sure he would be around here somewhere. Now that I thought of it, I wasn't sure if I wanted to take the bludgeon Jacob approach or the break down like a demanding girlfriend and beg him to sit out during the battle. I'm so conflicted. If I weren't so full from all the binge eating I'd been doing, I probably would have stuffed my face with food from the table full of snacks that Emily left out just for something to do.

Jacob made an appearance a couple minutes later, and I think my heart stopped just a little bit. I still haven't decided if I thought that was positive or negative yet. All I know is that everyone on the porch including Embry stopped talking. I don't know if it was coincidental or if everyone was just waiting to see what I would do.

"Hey." I said with an awkward wave as I tried not to do my nervous talking thing.

"So, about what happened..." I decided to stop Jake right there. I wasn't interested in rehashing the incident at the Cullen house, mostly because it would probably make me want cookie dough really bad.

"I'd really rather not talk about how stupid I think it is that you're risking your life for a married woman who you never dated and her half-vampire baby that will probably never know you as anything other than it's mommy's former best friend. I may not know a lot about vampires, but judging by the one that attacked me, they shouldn't be messed with." How is it that whenever I try not to nervous talk, I end up nervous talking way worse than I would have if I just let nature run it's course? As I go over the words in my head, I'm pretty sure I was a bit harsher than I needed to be. Jacob is barely my friend anyway, so I think I could handle him being mad at me. It's not like he talks to me all that much anyway. Now that I think about it, I really wish he would talk to me a little more. It wouldn't even be that hard. I've been known to carry both halves of the conversation when the situation demands it.

"If you're going to insult me, can you go into the house and do it?" I thought about it for a minute and said, "Actually, I think I got it all out of my system."

"Just come into the house with me?" He asked. I didn't see how it would hurt, so I followed him inside.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" I asked.

"I just wanted to say sorry for hurting your feelings." I wanted to be mad and pretend that my feelings weren't hurt, but I didn't think that would have helped anything.

"Its fine. Are you sure I can't change your mind, though?" I had to ask. He gave me a kind of guilty looking smile and shook his head.

"Okay then." I'm not sure when I decided on my next action, but the next thing I knew I was pulling Jacob's face down to my level and laying a kiss squarely on his lips. I'll admit, it was my first kiss. Like most first things I do, I felt a little awkward. Jake didn't shove me off when he realized what I was doing, so I figured I wasn't an awful kisser. We kept kissing for around ten seconds, I would guess. And when it was over, I kind of wanted to kiss him again, but since I'd lost the element of surprise I didn't dare try it again. Jake looked like he was about to say something, but I beat him to it.

"Don't say anything. I mean you can if you want, but I'd rather you wait until tomorrow so that way I know you have some tiny motivation to not die. I mean I know you aren't suicidal or anything, but just in case you have one of those moments where you're like what do I have to live for, you can think _'hey I wonder why the hell Katie kissed me yesterday'_ and then bam! You don't die! See ya." With that I ran away and hid in Kim's car.


	13. Never Admit Guilt

I can't remember if I've mentioned this or not, but when I worry, I can get pretty obsessive. As you know, being obsessive breaks one of my rules, so I had to get a little creative when it came to getting through today. It would be completely unhelpful to go all...um, well the only term I can think of to describe it would be to go all Katie on everything. In case I'm not explaining clearly enough, to go all Katie means that even when one tries desperately not to, they get a little crazy to the point where they resemble me when I allow myself to get obsessive. Before I moved to La Push, I'd gotten obsessive one time, and trust me it wasn't pretty. No one wants to see that, so I decided that my goal this morning was to be distracted. First I stayed up until about six in the morning, hoping that I would sleep right through the vampire battle. My mom woke me up at ten, effectively giving me a measly four hours of sleep. Why did she wake me up? You may ask. My mom's side of the family is a little bit weird about Christmas. For some weird reason that I've never really wondered about until now, we open presents when we get snow. Which is today by the way. We don't have a tree either, we just stack the presents by the fireplace so they'll torture us until the snow sticks. I think Grandma Betty may have a thing for white Christmases, so to her it really isn't Christmas until it snows. I'm pretty patient when it comes to presents, so it isn't a big deal that we wait. I just want to know what she would do if it didn't snow at all this year. Would she just pick a day? Or would she save the presents and hope for better luck next year. Maybe I'll ask her sometime.

So, anyway, my mom woke me up and brought me into the living room. The presents were separated into three piles, one for each person. The stack for me had six small boxes in it. All at once, Grandma Betty, my mom, and I started ripping open wrapping paper. I got a necklace, a new makeup bag, and a couple of new outfits. The clothes weren't something I would buy for myself and Grandma Betty explained that I needed some dressier clothes in case I was asked on a date. Grandma Betty thanked me for the scarf I got her, and I was just glad she liked it. When I bought it I was still on my cookie dough binge, which almost made me forget that Christmas was coming, and found it at one of the shops in the same complex as the grocery store.

Even though I didn't get much sleep, the presents were a good distraction. While all this was going on I didn't think about Jacob or Embry or Jared or any of my other friends even once. The distraction only lasted for about fifteen minutes after we were done. They were playing a Christmas Story on TV and I tuned in right when Ralphie was beating the crap out of Scott Farkus. Usually that was my favorite part in the entire movie, but as the blood started coming out of Farkus's nose, I couldn't help but wonder if a vampire would do that, or worse, to one of my friends. I couldn't watch anymore and escaped into my room, desperate to find a different distraction.

When I got into my bedroom, I took my iPod off it's dock and scrolled through my music. I got to One Week by the Barenaked Ladies and decided to see if I could memorize the entire song and sing along. After almost an hour, the farthest I could get was "I summon fish to the dish, although I like the chalet swiss I like the sushi 'cause it's never touched a frying pan" before I would start stumbling over my words. I love that song, but they talk way too fast for me to sing along. How I wish I could sing along.

When my attention span just couldn't take it anymore, I started thinking about the vampire battle again. I really wish I knew what time that thing would start, that way I would know how much longer it would be until it was over. I guessed I could call Kim, but I didn't know if she would feel like hanging out today since she was probably worrying about Jared fighting too. I stared at my phone for a couple more minutes before I decided to call her, even if I didn't see Kim today, she might be able tell me something about the battle. She answered on the second ring.

"Hey, Kim."

"Hey, Katie. What's up?"

"I'm freaking out just a little bit." I told her.

"Some of the younger pack members stayed behind, if something were going wrong we would know." She tried to reassure me. Too bad that wasn't the only thing on my list of things to worry about.

"That's not the only thing I'm worried about. I kind of did something...embarrassing."

"What happened?" Half of me was surprised that she didn't already know. What with the pack mind thing and the fact that Embry can't keep his mouth shut most of the time.

"Last night, at the party slash get together thing you made me go to, I may have kissed Jacob."

"You didn't!"

"But I did. Then I didn't let him ask me about it. Half so he would have a reason to talk to me when he's done today, and half because I really don't have a good reason for why I did it." Kim didn't seem to hear that part.

"That's so awesome! How was it?"

"I can honestly say it was the best I've ever had, but that's not the point, Kim. I'm pretty sure he will never look at me the same way again!"

"How was he looking you before?"

"You know that look that guys give you when you're friends and nothing more, so they don't really care when you babble like a moron. Now he'll look at me as the weird girl who kissed him for no apparent reason." Kim sighed.

"I really think you are over thinking this entire situation." She said.

"You just want me to go all teenage girl on you and tell you how awesome Jacob Black's lips felt on mine." I accused.

"Just a little bit, but come on. It isn't like Jacob is going to be anything but nice to you, so stop freaking out about how he may look at you."

"Did I mention that I may have been a little bit mean to him before I decided that it would be a good idea to kiss him?" Kim then spent the next forty-five minutes trying to convince me that Jacob was not going to make me feel bad, look at me weird, or avoid me more than usual. She's actually pretty good at making me feel better and giving friendly advice. If she's interested, I would bet she could have a promising career as a therapist or guidance counselor of some kind. She invited me over to hang out with her and Emily, while we all waited for the boys to get back. I couldn't think of any reason to hang around my house for the rest of the day, so I agreed. I borrowed Grandma Betty's car and drove it the couple of minutes to Sam and Emily's house. When I got there, it was just Kim and Emily sitting at the kitchen table drinking sodas and eating snacks off a plastic platter.

"Hey Katie." Emily greeted me.

"Things around here are really exciting today, aren't they? What have you guys been doing?" I asked, taking a seat between Kim and Emily.

"Worrying, same as you. Cheese and crackers?" Emily offered. It was silent for a couple of minutes while we snacked and worried to ourselves. I had never been comfortable with long silences, and I can't even express how relieved I was when Emily broke the silence.

"So, Katie, I heard you have a rule book." She said.

"It's more of a code. I call it Katie's Code for obvious reasons. Kim altered it yesterday and unfortunately I don't have a set of consequences for rule breakers." I explained.

"You should have seen her face. You would have thought I ran over a puppy or something the way she was looking at me." Kim said with a laugh.

"So what are your rules about?" Emily asked. I was thrilled to have someone actually interested in my rules. Most people just decided I was a weirdo and pretended not to notice when I brought it up.

"I started it when I started humiliating myself several times a week. It led to a loss of friends and a couple of people making mean jokes about me when I was clearly in earshot. I have common sense rules like don't wear expensive shoes the day after it rains and if you don't know what it is you shouldn't eat it. Then as I realized that my mom is terrible at choosing boyfriends, I made my don't fall for unavailable guys rule. The rest are purely to avoid embarrassment." Kim and Emily nodded. I wasn't sure if they were actually interested in what I was saying anymore, or just being polite as I talked. I was okay with either one. It was about to get quiet in the room again, but the door flung open and the guys came stomping in. Kim and Emily didn't waste time finding Jared and Sam. They hugged and kissed and celebrated their safe return. I just sat awkwardly at the table.

"Hey Katie." If I hadn't seen Jacob walk in through the front door, I might have jumped out of my skin at the sound of his voice so close to me.

"How was the fight?" I asked, not knowing what else to say.

"Pretty boring, actually. They just talked it out."

"You just talked?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"So, no one could have told us that you guys were perfectly okay. We were worried sick about you guys! I swear, if I had a blunt force object, I would beat you senseless with it." I added a smack to his upper arm.

"Sorry you worried about me."

"I was not worried about you," I lied, "I was just concerned that my werewolf friends were on the verge of getting themselves killed."

"You were worried about me."

"No I wasn't."

"Come on, Katie. Just admit it."

"Rule number seventeen: Never Admit Guilt." I retorted and thought about sticking my tongue out for emphasis. I didn't do it since I was pretty sure it wouldn't help my case.

"Will you stop with the stupid rules and just tell me you like me already?" Out of the infinite number of responses he could have given me, I did not expect that one. Needless to say I was so shocked all I could do is open and close my mouth several times like an idiot.

"That is definitely _not _what we're talking about. All I was saying was that someone should have let us know that you guys weren't off being killed by vampires. That's all." I doubt Jacob paid any attention to what I said.

"Did I mention that I probably won't be hanging around Bella that much anymore?" There Jake goes again, telling me things I don't expect to hear.

"That didn't come up."

"Really, well I'm not."

"Why is that?" I asked, trying to decide if this was the appropriate time to do a victory dance or not. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that victory dances probably only belong after touchdowns or in the privacy of your own bedroom.

"She's married and has Renesmee now, who by the way really likes to bite me. Bella and Edward let her do it too, just because she isn't venomous. And it just isn't worth it anymore." I wanted to scream that I had been trying to tell him that ever since I found out about him fighting alongside the Cullen's, but I figured it would more than likely cause me to embarrass myself and/or make things worse. So, in other words I kept my mouth shut.

"Good for you." Was the best response I could come up with at the time.

"That's all you have to say?" Jake looked almost shocked.

"Yep."

"You aren't going to babble?"

"Nope."

"Or tell me that you told me so?"

"Doesn't look like it." I was being uncharacteristically aloof about this whole exchange. It was awesome.

"I really don't know what to do about this situation anymore." he muttered.

"Neither do I. How funny is that?" I hadn't babbled yet and I wondered how long I could keep up this up. Jake's face went from one of shock slash awe to one of nervousness. He was doing that thing that people do when they're kind of uncomfortable. You know that rubbing the back of their neck thing. There really should be a name for that action, but I digress.

"So...uh, you want to go get a slice of pizza or something?" he asked.

"Is everyone else coming too?" It didn't look like the others were thinking about food right now. Jared and Kim were practically glued together at the lips, as were all the other couples in the room.

"No, I was thinking it could just be you and me." he looked like he might throw up or something, but I didn't tell him that.

"Jacob Black, are you asking me out on a date?" I didn't want to go all teenage-girl-being-asked-out-for-the-first-time on him unless he really was asking.

"I was trying to." He was back to rubbing the back of his neck again.

"In that case, I'd love to. We can take my grandma's car, but don't worry it isn't the typical old lady car with I heart bingo bumper stickers or anything like that. I mean its a 1990's Ford. We just put new tires on it and everything." Just when I thought I would be aloof for the rest of the day, word vomit strikes again.

"There's the Katie I know. Now let's get going." I nodded and we headed out towards the car.


End file.
